Stevesan

We spent a day on HMC in the Private Oasis and loved it. After reading all the negative reviews about HMC and snorkeling I was very skeptical about snorkeling. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of fish we saw, Boga,Sergeant Major, Redfin Needlefish, Brown Chromis, Barracuda, Pluma Porgy, Ballyhoo. Love it!!

What is HMC the abbreviation for?

I tried a search and found a lot of hospitals. :confused:

If it were me, I'd book one of the Aloha "sideways" cabins: A506, A507, A512 or A515. These cabins are significantly larger as you enter directly into the cabin without a hallway so the living area is much more spacious. If you can't get one of those cabins, get one on any other deck that's not next to a big white space. Those are usually crew areas and can tend to be noisy.

These cabins are popular and sell out early. IMNSHO layout is the primary attraction.

Good photos here. Scroll down a bit.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1728255

Thanks for the link - but it appears that the Clock may have been discontinued. Here is the messae from the link

Princess Countdown ConnectionSM Discontinued

Unfortunately, the clock has finally run out on the Princess Countdown Connection, which will be discontinued November 30, 2013. However, we're working feverishly on enhancing Cruise Personalizer to include an array of new capabilities, including expanded cruise details, share options for your friends and family and yes, even a new countdown timer. So say good-bye to the Countdown Connection at the end of November 2013, but come March 2014, get ready to say hello to a completely redesigned Cruise Personalizer!

Typical!

Princess allows time for us to become accustomed to a feature, then punishes us by replacing it with a new feature rampant with flaws. :mad:

http://www.diversdirect.com/scuba-dive/orlando-dive-shops/

 

divers direct has a store in orlando and has a larger than average selection of reasonably priced equipment. You can also review their stuff on line to get an idea but i would recommend to buy in the store so you can try different items. Fit matters.

what he said!!!:)

I've seen Princess redo an entire room while underway. They can certainly do the same with nonslip mats, paint, and furniture. There's no reason they'd need to wait until drydock to do any of these repairs.

 

I've seen TV shows that chronicle the organized chaos of disembarkation/embarkation, and whichever ship I saw was able to exchange 150 mattresses that day. Several pallets of nonslip mats would probably load on easier than mattresses.

Balcony mats were removed following the fire on Star Princess. As mentioned in this thread, they should be painted with a nonskid paint.

We are going out in November on a B2B. Our TA said Princess had 2 hotels: the Marriott and the Four Seasons.

 

We booked the Four Seasons.[/quote]

 

An excellent choice for access to restaurants, theaters and stores.

 

http://www.fourseasons.com/houston/landing_3/?source=msn10houS07&kw=the+four+seasons+houston&+creative=183378701&KW_ID=ew0kHEOAD|pcrid|183378701

 

Airport Marriott a good choice for a quick overnite.

 

http://www.hotelsone.com/houston-hotels-us/houston-marriott-airport-at-george-bush-intercontinental.html?as=b&aid=3186468144&dsti=106337&dstt=8&label=bing-bh106337&akw=30354686483&akwu=marriott%20iah%20airport&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=marriott%20iah%20airport&utm_content=us-TX_bh106337&utm_campaign=us-USA-Texas-Hotels-oe-en-ww

Well, let's see. I've embarked/disembarked from approximately 30 cruise terminals around the world. Other than San Pedro, CA, virtually all of them offered way more than Bayport. San Diego is within walking distance of many restaurants and attractions, SF is within walking distance of Pier 39, Seattle is within walking distance of many restaurants, so is Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, etc., etc.

 

All I'm trying to do here is to inform people from outside of Texas that this cruise terminal has only the bare minimum. It is in the middle of NOWHERE. If I were going to take a cruise out of Texas again, I would simply go through Galveston. Please tell me what's better at Bayport.

The ships. :p

P.S. I feel your pain: Galveston is far more user friendly.

Disembarkation was delayed due to fog by 3 hours. My advice is to walk off with all your luggage. I believe a cab from Bayport to Hobby was about $50.00 for 2. We missed our flight. If you don't walk off with your luggage, you have to wait for the ship to unload it and make it available in the cruise terminal. That was another delay (consequence of the fog) I would rather be on the safe side and wait at the airport than worry about making my flight. We took the Princess shuttle, (There were 3 buses that left within a few minutes of each other) and that caused a long line at the airport... Southwest check in... and a long line at the security check point. If you take a cab you will have a short cut through all those delays.

Fog has been a problem. The unseasonly low temps are the villain.

For newbies with Southwest:

You can print your boarding pass and check in on their web site within 24 hours of your flight. Boarding order is based on check in times. I try to check in 24 hours and 59 minutes prior to flight time.:p

Of course, frequent flyers have boarding order priority.

The line was long and they get to the ppl w earlier departure times first. Us having the latest departure time had to wait longest. I think total waiting while actually standing in line was about 15 mins.

 

The water wasn't rough, but the current was strong. I really suggest to use the vests. Snorkel time wasn't long, about half hour? And total tour was about 3-4 hrs actually on the island. If I remember correctly, we were off the ship on the 9am tender and on the island about 10:30.

Could you not reenter?

I've reserved Goff's Cay. I previously went to Rendezvous Cay where snorkel time was not limited.

Elite bennies (and more):

https://book.princess.com/captaincircle/jsp/eliteMemberShipBenefits.jsp

We have to put the "privacy" tag on the door?

THE HORROR!!!:eek:

We are booked on our first Princess cruise for next Oct from England to Houston. The first stop is in France and being a bit of a history buff and a veteran I would like to see the Omaha beach area etc. I am trying to find something in a private tour but not having much luck so far so I checked the Princess site and there are no excursions shown yet. From your experience will there be some or do you think not?

Princess will offer one or more Normandy tours.

A sample of private tours:

http://www.viator.com/Bayeux-tours/Cultural-and-Theme-Tours/d909-g4?pref=204&aid=m1285

As others mentioned here, log into your roll call. The best tour experiences are arranged through roll calls.

We are sailing on NCL Dawn in January and have booked this excursion through the ship. It is a 7.5 hour excursion. We are traveling with 3 kids, I am wondering how much of the 7.5 hours is actual transit time from the ship to Xcaret?

 

It looks like we will go from the port in Cozumel by water ferry to the mainland of Playa del Carmen then by bus to Xcaret. The water ferry I've been able to locate is a 30 minute trip.

 

I am trying to plan what I should bring to keep the toddler occupied during transit that I won't mind being put in a duffle bag at Xcaret.

There is a 45 minute ferry transfer to Playa del Carmen, then a 25 minute bus ride to X-Caret. Return is about the same.

That's the plan. Your time may vary a bit.

Anyone have a recommendation for a hotel in Galveston pre cruise???

The Tremont house. It's a 4/5 star, in walking distance to the pier.

Harbor House, also close to the pier, is very popular and less expensive.

http://www.galveston.com/islandhotels/

I cannot seem to find the ginger tablets. I have seen a recommendation to get the caplets with liquid inside, instead of powder, but all i can find is "ginger gum." Which i got at Walgreens. But i would like to find the caplets. Any suggestions?:confused:

After suffering negative side effects from sea sick pills and patches, my late wife had excellent results with ginger capsules. We purchased them at a local GNC store.

She started taking them 2 or 3 days prior to the cruise.

BTW - a pharmacy employee told me the only difference between sea sick pills and patches is the delivery.

Round trip travel time is 5 hours. That's with the cruise ship excursion.

A visit to Golden's Ketchikan shore excursions reveals Twenty-seven tours!

Nothing to do in five hours? :rolleyes:

I know there must be an answer on CC to this. However I am not computer literate to find it.:o Is there are a self service laundry on the Grand Princess? TIA

You can locate the laundry rooms by displaying the deck plans for each ship. In your case, Grand Princess.

http://www.princess.com/learn/ships/

We have both Curacao and Cozumel ports on our upcoming cruise. I can't get hubby to commit to 2 snorkeling days unfortunately so I'm forced to choose!

 

I'm considering either shore snorkeling at Porte Marie or Laguna Beach in Curacao OR a snorkeling boat trip in Cozumel to El Cielo, Colombia Shallow, Palancar Gardens and La Francesa or Santa Rosa reefs.

 

What would you advise?

 

Thanks so much.

 

PS I'm also a bit concerned about water temperature in Cozumel in early December also (no wetsuits).

No contest. Cozumel with Eagle Ray:

http://www.eagleraydivers.com/snorkeling_caribbean.htm

Go with the longer trip for off shore reefs.. The short two reef goes to near shore reefs.

After our first (Crown) Princess sailing several years ago, I noticed that for some reason it was being counted as two cruises. It wasn't a suite or early booking, but no big deal, I thought, I'd like to sail Princess again but who knows. Then came the Ruby and CB, and now just back from the lovely Royal.

 

So now I see I've made Platinum. OK, I'm the guy who takes 50 cents back to the grocery checker the next week because he received too much change. But with this Platinum "membership", it just doesn't feel the same. I don't think the perks are that significant, and I can just see myself getting into a "no good deed goes unpunished" kind an administrative run around.

 

But I want to do the right thing, at least in a collective Cruise Critic opinion kind of a way. Any thoughts?

Was it a round trip cruise that could be booked as either one or two separate cruises?

If the former and you booked it as a single cruise you can, and should be, credited for 2 cruises. I have a couple of those.

The wine choices are not worth it. Not for me anyway.

Two Buck Chuck!:p

Another suggestion. It's been so long since I used a TA, I forgot to mention it in my earlier post.

When booking thru a TA, be on the phone line with your TA and cruise line rep.

Hi folks,

 

I'm trying to book a cruise on princess.com to transfer to my TA because she isn't seeing the cabin I want as available, even though it is on princess.com.

I thought I went through the process, even selecting to use a FCC for my downpayment. It seems to take it all OK, but when I log out and back in, the cabin is still showing as available, and it's not in my personalizer.

Is there a delay in a cruise showing up in your personalizer, or did I not complete a step and didn't actually book it?

 

Thanks!

Call Princess.

The representative will complete your booking, give you your booking number and send you a confirmation e-mail in a matter of minutes. Your booking will appear in Cruise Personalizer before you hang up.

I've done this for all my Princess cruises.

We sailed on the Emerald in February 2011 and went to Sabatini's for dinner and had the best waiter EVER! His name was Emil. We are sailing once again on the Emerald in February and are wondering if he is still there? He made us laugh until we were all crying and man could he ever sing! Has anyone seen him?

Emil is probably from Central Europe where waiters experience vigorous and lengthy training.

Saw a ground coffee machine in one of the MDR kitchens. That was on Caribbean Princess.